Behind Enemy Lines Read Online Free PDF Page A

they would arrive at the precise time that Sera programmed into the Infinity Ring, and not one minute before.
    This time and place weren’t too bad for him to navigate on his own — after all, he’d made it to London without any trouble. But the truth was that he’d gotten used to having Sera and Dak with him on these adventures. They were all friends now; even Dak was, though neither of them would ever admit it. But it was something more. Dak and Sera had become like family to Riq. And he hated the thought that one day, they would finish these missions, save Earth from the Cataclysm, and then go home. Eventually, they would have to leave him behind for good.
    But not today. Riq straightened his spine and paced for the twentieth time around the gatehouse that marked the entrance to the Tower of London. He had managed to get a job as a translator for the British Royal Navy. It was a civilian job, and the information he could access was so low-security that he could’ve put it on a billboard with flashing lights and no one would care. But it did get him inside the Admiralty building where the British spies worked, and that was a good start. Dak and Sera would have to be impressed with that move.
    Where were they, already?
    Somewhere in the distance, the chimes of Big Ben bonged out the change of the hour. One. Two. Three. Wasn’t it time for them to show up? Six. Seven. Eight. It felt like each chime was longer than the last. Then, finally, ten and eleven.
    Just as the final chime sounded, with sparks coming from nothing but empty air, Dak and Sera tumbled into existence. And then a third body rolled through. Tilda!
    Riq actually stumbled backward. Were they crazy? Why would they bring Tilda here?
    Dak and Tilda seemed to be fighting over a SQuare, but Tilda was also fighting with Sera to keep a hand on the Infinity Ring. Riq dove between all of them and earned himself a hard kick to his chest and someone’s elbow in his eye. He pushed between them again until Sera finally rolled free with the Infinity Ring and Dak separated on the other side with the SQuare.
    “You miserable brats!” Tilda growled. “Do you really think you have any chance of winning? Don’t you know how strong we are here? This is where we took over the world!”
    “What are we going to do with her?” Dak asked.
    “We have to send her back, obviously,” Sera said.
    Riq didn’t bother asking how they would do that. It’d be nearly impossible when none of them wanted to risk letting her anywhere near the Ring. That could be a fatal mistake.
    He knew Tilda better than either of his friends did. As a child, he’d thought of her as a bogeyman — he’d already learned six languages before he could bring himself to say her name out loud. Then, as a young man, he’d studied her, as all Hystorians did. She was the most dangerous person alive, and vicious beyond words. Most Hystorians believed that the SQ would loosen its grip upon the world if only they could be convinced that the Cataclysm was real and that it was coming. But Tilda was driving the entire planet toward the Cataclysm and it seemed like she wanted to step on the gas pedal to make it happen sooner.
    Then Riq remembered something else about Tilda. She came from the future. A future that their actions had already changed.
    “Do you know who I am?” he asked her.
    Tilda hadn’t expected that. She stood there, recovering from her first warp through time, and blinked at him.
    “Do you know who I am?!” He yelled the question this time, lunging forward, gripping her arms and shaking her.
    “Oi, you there!” A policeman on the street behind them had noticed them surrounding Tilda, had heard him shouting at her. Riq could only imagine how this must look.
    “Run!” Sera cried.
    Dak started to protest that they couldn’t just leave Tilda, but Riq and Sera grabbed each of his arms and dragged him off. The officer pursued only a few steps before he returned to Tilda, who was doing a